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  System and method for guided salesUSPTO Application #: 20080103913Title: System and method for guided sales Abstract: A guided sales system provides a sales person and/or a customer with guidance through a sales process including detailed information about products and technologies. The guided sales system allows a user to enter information about the customer and the customer's needs, to identify products matching the customer's needs and to make product recommendations. A user may further use the system to print a recommendation and/or a sales ticket that may be used by a customer to complete a purchase or transaction. The sales system may further provide a free-form drawing application to help visualize product placement and configurations. Various visualization and learning tools may further be integrated into or otherwise included in the guided sales system to aid a customer's understanding of particular products and/or technologies. (end of abstract)
Agent: Banner & Witcoff, Ltd. - Washington, DC, US Inventors: Brian Robert Leach, Lisa Hendrickson Janzer, Hunter Ridgley Shomo, Kevin Mack Leetham, David J. Romero, Oliver Sulse Cortum, Michael Laskaris, Daniel James Bohn USPTO Applicaton #: 20080103913 - Class: 705 26 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080103913. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND [0001]For consumers, customer service is often a significant factor in determining whether they will purchase a product. Customer service representatives may influence a consumer's purchasing decision by providing additional or different information about a product. Sales associates may further make recommendations or identify products that may be particularly suited to the consumer's needs and/or preferences. Such selective product identification and recommendation may lead to a higher probability that the consumer will make a purchase. In one example, a sales associate may show a consumer certain digital camera products based on the consumer's desired use and functionality. If the consumer is looking for a digital camera for producing high quality photographs, the consumer may be more likely to purchase a 5 megapixel camera than a 2 megapixel digital camera. [0002]To facilitate guided sales, customer service representatives may often be provided with sales training and sales software to help the representatives direct consumers to appropriate products. However, many guided sales systems lack tools to help a consumer visualize differences in products or product technologies. For example, it may be difficult to identify resolution differences between high definition televisions displaying images in 1080 p resolution versus 780 p resolution simply by looking at the televisions. Other product attributes including camera filter effects, image quality and image contrast may also be hard to determine just by viewing the products themselves. SUMMARY [0003]This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. The Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. [0004]A guided sales system according to one or more aspects may include multiple options for guiding a customer in developing a product solution. For example, the sales system may allow a sales associate or customer to open a saved recommendation or solution, access a product catalog, access learning and visualization tools or start a new guided sales solution. Starting a new guided sales solution allows a sales associate or customer to enter customer information such as name, contact information, currently owned products, desired use of the product and other relevant information. In one or more arrangements, a sales associate may further enter drawings such as room drawings into the sales system. This may allow a customer to visualize product placement and room configurations. Further, the sales associate or customer may input such drawings in a free-form manner (e.g., freehand drawings). That is, the sales associate or customer may draw a room or other object free-hand using input devices such as a stylus or finger and a touch/stylus-sensitive or digitizing display device. Once customer information has been entered, product parameters may be determined from the information. Products matching the parameters may then be listed for the sales associate or customer's perusal prior to making a recommendation. The sales associate may make a manual recommendation or may elect to have the system make automatic recommendations after he or she has finished reviewing the product listing. During the guided sales process, a sales associate or customer may access various functions and applications provided in the guided sales system without interruption. Thus, in one example, a sales associate or customer may seamlessly jump from viewing a product listing back to entering customer information. [0005]According to one or more aspects, the guided sales system may be used to train sales persons while on the job. That is, a sales person may learn questions to ask, technology differences, product locations and other sales information by using the guided sales system while interacting with customers. This allows a store to reduce or eliminate the need for sales persons to undergo training courses prior to stepping on the sales floor. [0006]In an alternative or additional aspect, a guided sales system may be deployed such that a customer may interact with the system independently (i.e., without a sales person). For example, the guided sales system may be implemented on a self-service kiosk in the store or on the store's website. Such uses of the guided sales system may expedite a customer's shopping by allowing the customer to find the product he or she wants prior to arriving at the store. Further, customers who might not be inclined to engage a sales associate may be encouraged to shop at the store if the guided sales system were available for them to use independently (e.g., at a self-service kiosk or in the comfort of their home). [0007]In another aspect, solution information may be saved to a central server or system that is accessible by multiple devices and systems. Thus, a sales person or customer who starts a solution at a first store may subsequently retrieve and access the same solution at a second store. Changes made to a solution at a first location and/or through a first device may be reflected when accessing the solution at a second location and/or through a second device. In another example, a customer may initiate a solution at home through a store or company website and later retrieve, modify and/or complete the solution at a local store. Alternatively or additionally, solution information may be accessed simultaneously by multiple different devices and/or in multiple different locations. For example, a customer support specialist may view and otherwise access solution information simultaneously with a customer at home. [0008]In another aspect, the guided sales system may allow a sales associate to print out a sales ticket or recommendation that includes information needed for the customer to complete a purchase/transaction. For example, the sales ticket may include product bar codes, brand information, model numbers and the like. A recommendation may include additional information such as details about the recommended product, the sales person's name and contact information, store information, price and availability information and the like. A customer may proceed to a checkout counter with just the sales ticket or recommendation to complete the purchase. In one or more configurations, recommendation and sales ticket information may be electronically transmitted to a point of sale system, such as a store checkout register, where a transaction may be completed. The customer, upon arriving at the register, may identify the recommendation and sales ticket information based on a customer name, solution ID, phone number and/or various other identification information. [0009]According to yet another aspect, the guided sales system may be implemented on a handheld mobile device that is capable of wireless communications. The mobile device may include caching means for storing product and store information. The device may further be linked to an in-store server and/or a central corporate server for retrieving additional or new information. In one or more configurations, product and store information may be replicated to the device overnight during low traffic times. Alternatively or additionally, the guided sales system may be deployed on a desktop computing device using wired or wireless communications. [0010]According to still another aspect, the guided sales system may include multiple visualization and/or learning tools that simulate various aspects of a product or technology. Such tools may aid a customer in visualizing differences in and aspects of products and/or technologies. Learning and visualization tools may include a magnification tool for visualizing resolution differences, filter effect tools for visualizing the effects of camera filters, zoom/crop tools for visualizing differences in image quality, zoom lens tools for visualizing a zoomable distance and an ambient light effect tool for simulating the effects of ambient light on different types of televisions (e.g., LCD versus plasma). These tools may include additional features such as interactive controls for adjusting a degree of polarization of a camera filter and controlling the amount of ambient light in a simulated room. In one or more embodiments, a sales associate may access these tools from the guided sales system and may return to a guided sales solution seamlessly. Alternatively or additionally, the learning tools may further include audio overlays for narrating product and/or technology features. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0011]The foregoing summary of the invention, as well as the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are included by way of example, and not by way of limitation with regard to the claimed invention. [0012]FIG. 1 illustrates a network architecture for communicating sales, product and customer data according to one or more aspects described herein. [0013]FIGS. 2A and 2B are flowcharts illustrating a method for guiding a user in identifying one or more products suitable for a consumer according to one or more aspects described herein. [0014]FIGS. 3A-3N illustrate various user interfaces corresponding to a guided sales system according to one or more aspects described herein. [0015]FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate a screen resolution visualization tool according to one or more aspects described herein. [0016]FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for simulating the magnification of an image according to one or more aspects described herein. [0017]FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate two filter effect visualization tools according to one or more aspects described herein. [0018]FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for simulating camera filter effects according to one or more aspects described herein. [0019]FIGS. 8A-8C illustrate a zoom visualization tool according to one or more aspects described herein. [0020]FIGS. 9A and 9B illustrate a tool for simulating differences between cropping and enlarging images having varying image qualities according to one or more aspects described herein. [0021]FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate a tool for simulating differences between zooming in images of different image qualities according to one or more aspects described herein. Continue reading... Full patent description for System and method for guided sales Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this System and method for guided sales patent application. Patent Applications in related categories: 20080243629 - Apparatus, system, and method for logically packaging and delivering a service offering - An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for logically packaging and delivering a service offering. 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A media item is received from a submitter. The media item is published for consumer access. Requests for the media item are received from media consumers. A number of consumer requests for the media item is counted. A ... ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like System and method for guided sales or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Service order system and service carrier Next Patent Application: Automated decision assistant Industry Class: Data processing: financial, business practice, management, or cost/price determination ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the System and method for guided sales patent info. 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